Workers on the morning shift leave Hyundai Motor's Ulsan plant through the Myeongchon main gate two hours early Monday, as the Korean Metal Workers' Union's Hyundai Motor chapter begins a three-day partial strike. [Yonhap]
Workers on the morning shift leave Hyundai Motor's Ulsan plant through the Myeongchon main gate two hours early Monday, as the Korean Metal Workers' Union's Hyundai Motor chapter begins a three-day partial strike. [Yonhap]

The Hyundai Motor union has warned management it is prepared to escalate strike action. With a three-day partial strike already underway since Monday, the union said it will finalize a higher level of action at a central strike committee meeting Thursday if management fails to put forward a new offer.

The Korean Metal Workers' Union's Hyundai Motor chapter said Tuesday in a strike committee statement: "Management says it has nothing more to give even if we strike? The chapter will show them what an all-out war looks like." The union said the current "2-2-2 partial strike" was "a guideline set from a long-term perspective" and that it would "raise the level of strike action at the next committee meeting."

The "2-2-2 partial strike" involves each shift stopping work for two hours a day from Monday through Wednesday. With both the day and night shifts each halting for two hours, the action can cause up to four hours of lost production per day.

Within and around the union, there is talk that strike intensity could rise to four or six hours per shift. A four-hour-per-shift strike would translate to eight hours of lost production a day, while a six-hour-per-shift strike would mean 12 hours. A refusal to work weekend overtime could compound the disruption further.

The union said it would not rule out a prolonged dispute if management fails to make a new proposal. "Neither working-level consultations nor formal negotiations — nothing is currently taking place," the union said, adding that management "must focus on preventing a catastrophe by quickly drawing up a forward-looking proposal."

"If management makes no move by Thursday, the strike committee will confirm a higher-level directive," the union said. It added: "Given management's current attitude, we cannot rule out a prolonged struggle. The chapter intends to escalate gradually from a lower level to a higher level until an acceptable proposal is on the table."

The union also spelled out its conditions for resuming talks. It is demanding a fair performance bonus, a 50 percent increase in bonuses, a substantive proposal on extending the retirement age, reinstatement of dismissed workers, and the withdrawal of damage claims and asset freezes. "Without a forward-looking proposal, don't even dream of resuming negotiations," the union said.

Hyundai Motor's labor and management resumed full negotiations July 2 and held their 13th, 14th and 15th rounds of talks, but failed to find common ground. At the 15th session, management tabled its third proposal: a base pay increase of 89,000 won ($59), a performance bonus of 350 percent plus 10 million won, and 15 shares of stock. The union rejected it as falling short of members' expectations and declared the talks over.

The remaining core issues between the two sides are wage and performance bonus increases, a bonus raise, reinstatement of dismissed workers, and retirement age extension. The two sides have reached agreement on eight other items, including new hiring, employment stability in preparation for future industry changes, a full monthly salary system, and reduced working hours.

The union is demanding a base pay increase of 149,600 won, a performance bonus equivalent to 30 percent of last year's net profit, a bonus increase from 750 percent to 800 percent, and a retirement age extension. Management, for its part, maintains it has already put its best offer on the table.

Hyundai Motor CEO Choi Young-il said earlier in a statement that it was "regrettable" that the union was striking over issues such as reinstatement of dismissed workers and retirement age extension, and that the company had "in effect presented its best proposal" on Wednesday. On the retirement age demand, he said: "Given the fierce debate in political circles over legislating a retirement age extension, can individual company labor and management really reach a conclusion ahead of that process?"

The union also stressed internal unity. In a flash bulletin, it took aim at some shop-floor organizations, saying they were "riding the wave of confusion on the shop floor caused by distorted accounts of the negotiation process and lending their weight to efforts to destabilize the leadership," and accused them of "using fabricated claims about agreed matters as a pretext to divide the shop floor from the leadership."

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor filed a regulatory disclosure announcing a production halt at all its plants, including the Ulsan factory, due to the partial strike. The stated reason was "a partial strike related to collective bargaining," and the company said the impact would be "partial production disruption across all vehicle models." If the union raises the strike level at Thursday's committee meeting, pressure on second-half new-model production and delivery schedules could intensify significantly.


kwater@heraldcorp.com